Heating questions for baby ball

[Hammer2576]

Ok so I heat my ball pythons basking side with a UTH and I spray down his cage once in awhile to get humidity up. I put my thermometer probe above the glass where the uth is and it was reading around 110-115 degrees. I went and bought a rheostat from the place I bought my snake and turned down the heating pad to the lowest setting on the heating pad. Now the thermometer is showing its around 93-95. Is that going to be ok for his basking spot? The thermometer is below some substrate. This is where my snakes favorite hide is at and he spends a lot of his time there. Just want to make sure he's going to be healthy. Thanks for any advice.

[PitOnTheProwl]

You want to make sure the surface temp of the glass doesn't get over 95 degrees.
The dimmer is okay but it wont compensate for changes in room temps, a t-stat would be a lot better.

[Hammer2576]

So is this saying that it's still too hot? I've read a few things saying that around 95 is ok. This is at it's lowest setting on the rheostat and the place I bought the snake recommended this. Lol. It was around 110-115. It's sitting around 96 now.

[PitOnTheProwl]

a little, and pet stores always upsell.

[TheSnakeGuy]

Your thermometer should be placed on top of your substrate because that's where you animal is. Unless you have a snake that likes to burrow you don't need to know the temp of the glass. Just make sure the top isn't over 95. Somewhere between 88-92 is ideal.

[KMG]

What kind of substrate are you using?

How thick is it over the uth?

[PitOnTheProwl]

Your thermometer should be placed on top of your substrate because that's where you animal is. Unless you have a snake that likes to burrow you don't need to know the temp of the glass. Just make sure the top isn't over 95. Somewhere between 88-92 is ideal.

You want the hottest spot the snake can come into contact with not to be over 95 degrees, doesn't matter IF your snake likes to burrow but when they will.

[mackynz]

Your thermometer should be placed on top of your substrate because that's where you animal is. Unless you have a snake that likes to burrow you don't need to know the temp of the glass.

So if your snake decides it wants to burrow it's just too bad if it's hot enough to get burned on the glass?

[Hammer2576]

I'm using the coco soft substrate. And some moss in some areas to help with humidity. And it's also pretty thick over the uth. It's right where his hide is and he lays in his hide.

[TheSnakeGuy]

You'll probably have to thin out your coco to a half inch or less to keep the glass temps in the safe range while providing the proper hot spot. How's your cool side and ambient air temp? When I used a natural substrate in a cage with a UTH I realized quickly that you have to keep it very thin or switch to paper towels/newspaper.